1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to knit textile sleeves used for wrapping cables, tubing and the like and more particularly to such sleeves having one or more metallic yarns or wires incorporated into the textile sleeve material and with lead ends that extend from the ends of the textile sleeve for connection to a power source and to methods of making such sleeves.
2. Related Art
Textile sleeves for wrapping and guiding a bundle of wires or shrouding other elongate articles, such as tubes, are sometimes fabricated to include one or more conductive or resistive metallic wires. The wires may be incorporated into the textile structure of the sleeve (e.g., woven) and may extend in the lengthwise direction with ends of the wires extending beyond the ends of the textile material to present projecting electrical leads at one or both ends of the wires for connection to a power source. One known method for making such a textile sleeve structure having conductive and/or resistive wires involves weaving the textile sleeve and integrating the one or more conductive wires as part of the woven structure during manufacture of the textile sleeve. Afterward, the ends of the textile material are trimmed back to expose the ends of the one or more wires so they end up extending beyond the trimmed ends of the textile sleeve material and can serve as leads for connection to a power source. While effective, such a process is laborious and adds to the manufacturing cost of such textile sleeves.